"A cold case? The man in the walker? Are you serious?" one neighbor asked.

Feit had long been considered by authorities as a person of interest in the case but was never charged in Garza's murder until Tuesday. Authorities say Garza, who was 25 years old at the time, went to confession with Feit but never returned home.

She was later found dead in an irrigation ditch a few miles away from the church where Feit served as priest. Authorities believe he was the last person to see her alive.

Feit had always denied his involvement, and the case went cold until 2002 when a priest who worked with him came forward.

"He patted her on her breasts, she was in the back seat and was saying to her, 'Irene, everything will be OK. Everything will be OK, Irene," Dale Tacheny, Feit's ex-spiritual counselor, told CNN in 2013.